Big oil Sucks

It turns out that the oil rig in the Gulf is pumping 5000 barrels per day into the beautiful emerald waters. This is tragic and further proof that we are addicted to oil even at the cost of our natural treasures. I am including some images of Uncle Sam on big oil.

The Codewords of Dishonor

To those that have been asleep at the wheel, I ask that you awake and become familiar with the modern political vocabulary. Codewords are abundant and used as a dog whistle. I have composed a brief list of these words. Please feel free to add your own to the list through the comment section. The words shown here are used by the conservative super heroes to speak to their base and to insight responses as well.

Judicial Activism- This term as been used by political leaders and pastors and is used to describe any supreme court nominee that would not over turn Roe vs. Wade. You must understand that in this upside down, Sponge Bob opposite day world, up is down, black is white and wrong is right. Never mind the true activist conservative judges that overturn well established laws against influencing elections with corporate money. And be aware, that the new word being rolled out for the same issue is outcome based judging.

Entitlements- This translates to a hand out or give away, mainly used to infer that Mr. Obama is giving African Americans all sorts of free stuff. This was used to make people fear before the election. I was told by several people before last November, that "I like Obama and would consider voting for him but I'm afraid that he will just give everything to black people". The word entitlement is used by right wing radio to stir the white sentiment up against welfare and food stamps although the same folks are too ignorant to realize that the largest group receiving entitlements are white people.

Global Warming- This term is embraced by big oil and corporate giants because it is easy to manipulate and confuse the less educated masses with this term. When it is cold or snowy, such as when it snowed Washington under, the fox media machine loved to say...where is the global warming and Al Gore needs to build an igloo here. The better term would be climate change and anyone with any education knows that the warming is referring to the polls warming which is causing more moisture in the atmosphere and this can cause flooding, massive rain storms and more snowfall.

War on Christmas- Used by fox and conservative talkers to rally Christians into believing that the evil Liberals are trying to take away Christmas and the word Christ. In fact, we should be mindful that there are people that are Jewish or atheist that use the term happy holidays and there is no insult in using these terms instead of merry Christmas. This is another rally cry to the base. Nothing unites people like a common enemy.

Tolerance / Coexist- This term has been used for years to teach the sheep that it is o.k. to be politically incorrect and that tolerance means that we are trying to elevate the gay, black or Godless agendas over the "good American" ways. If you simply live by the golden rule, the proper actions will be taken.

Socialist / Communist- A way to project the hate, fear and discrimination of the Republican party onto the other side. The Republicans would be much more closely aligned with Hitler than Obama ever would and since they are aware of this, they try to paint the Democratic party with a cover up brush to divert attention from their own weakness.

War on Islam- This should be a war on religious extremist. The problem is, that then we would have to consider the abortion doctor killers, the tax revolt people that crash into buildings and gun violence nuts as terrorist as well.

Keeping us safe, weak on terror- Used to distort the fact that we were hit on George Bush's watch and there is no way that Bush and Cheney should be credited with keeping us safe when the worst terrorist attack in our history took place while they were in office. All attempts to blame the attack on Clinton are simply more of the same...excuses and distractions.

Obama is a Muslim, racist or was not born here- More ways to stir hate for any religion that is different and to further distrust of the government. Funny thing is, McCain would be the one that would be questioned on this issue as he was born in the Panama Canal military zone. Also, what we learned was that Reagan and McCain, who never attended church, were "Christian" but Obama and Carter who attend church all the time and have confessed their faith, are actually Muslim, sinners and evil....go figure. More of Bush's fuzzy math.

The Good Old Days

When you take back something that has not been stolen, you become a thief. I continue to hear Christian leaders speaking of fighting the culture war and taking back our Nation or taking back what has been stolen. I am having trouble seeing what has been stolen. I find that located beneath the surface, is simply a longing by these folks to go back in time to the "good old days". The problem is, the good old days were not all that good. I have no desire to go back to the times of no central air, no cable television and no Internet. What was so good about the past? Was it a time when women and black people knew their place? Was it a time when we beat the crap out of our kids? Yea, those sound like great times to me and by great, I mean horrible. I have been told that the old days did not have crime, drugs, gangs and disrespect of elders. I am afraid that this is simply not true. You can go back as far in history as you like and all of these things were present, they were simply kept more underground back in the day. It is not possible to insulate yourself from the world with an ancient world view or with a Christian culture. Whatever you decide to keep that close to you will eventually abuse you. Modern society is not at fault for all the evils on the planet and neither is a liberal media or mindset. If you want to subscribe to the good old days philosophy, that is fine, go as far back in a time capsule as you want to but do not get mad at me when you are left behind and become an obsolete member of society. In the end, when you take back something that has never been stolen, you have become the thief.

420... I Got Your Immigration

As you may know, today is an international day for pot smokers. While watching the debate in Arizona about immigration, I had to believe that the two were somehow related. I have three levels of no that I use with my kids and I think we can use them in relation to the current immigration debate and happenings in Arizona.

Level 1- Negative 400- This is the lowest form of no and is used to state an obvious no. The fact that the state of Arizona is trying to pass a law that requires proof of birth for presidential candidates in future elections. This is a direct challenge to Mr. Obama and the fools that think he is not an American citizen. Negative 400.
Level 2- Negative 4000- This is the medium form of no and is used to express a bit more force. This comes to mind when the state of Arizona is on the verge of passing a law that gives police and law officers the right to stop anyone that they think is not a legal citizen. This is dangerous and gives way too much room for abuse and racial purging. Negative 4000.
Level 3- Negative 420- This is the most extreme level of no and is basically infering that the obvious answer is no and you must be smoking some good stuff to even consider the garbage in your head. This would apply to anyone that thinks that immigration is a political issue and has a simple solution based in discrimination. I have heard many republicans say that we should kick out all of the illegals. Never mind that this would destroy families and be at a financial cost that can not be conceived. This issue is an American issue and not an issue that any political party does or should own. Reagan was for amnesty and yet the tea party and modern conservatives are against it. Anyone that is pro discrimination and would enact racist policies should be told by the voters...negative 420.

Of course, there is a simple way to really affect this issue. If we could focus on the companies that hire the illegal aliens and punish the owners or managers of these companies, this issue would almost work itself out. We are punishing the wrong people. The companies hire these workers, pay them less than promised, provide no benefits and if the worker is abused or gets hurt, they have no way to file a claim against the company. There are also instances where the companies will use these workers for a few months or years and then the company will turn the workers into the INS so that they do not have to deal with any pay increases, etc. There is no punishment made to the hiring companies. Change this one issue and the immigration problem will begin to improve.

Let us persue peace and kindness and promote harmony within the United States and have pity on all humanity.

What Gives?

I have to openly question the anger and calls for violence being made by the right wing. Let's get real here, I own guns, I have hunted, I fish and I am not a vegetarian and I drive a truck. I have never even considered taking violent actions against any republicans or republican politicians. As much as I despised Bush, Cheney and all the illegal and horrible policies that they made, I, nor any progressives threatened to form a militia or suggested taking our Country back by force. Why is it that republicans and conservatives can never accept loosing elections? The recent tea parties and talking heads are sore losers and incapable of civil discourse because the policies that they support have no merit and they can not win the open and fair debate. Jimmy Carter was trashed and blamed for an economy that was not his fault and was defeated due to the hostage situation in Iran that conveniently resolved just after the election of Reagan. Can you say dealing with the enemy to win an election? Clinton was a brilliant president and although he won 2 times, was never given any respect by the right wing, I remember every Sunday, Jerry Fallwell selling videos about Clinton running drugs and having people killed. The only thing that ever stuck to Clinton was Monica....no pun intended. Then came Bush who was selected by the supreme court and not elected. If you don't believe it, simply research the articles written about what the result of any recount would have been. Bush stole that election and you can forget about Clinton having an affair, Bush Screwed the entire Country. Did Al Gore protest, or did we riot in the streets? The answer is no, we accepted the loss and went about trying to elect another candidate. Where were all of these tea party fools when Bush resided over the largest expansion of government of all time? Where were these "patriots" when we were taken into an illegal war, had the war cost kept off budget and had big brother listen to our calls and look at our emails? Even though we disagreed with these horrible acts, the worst thing that we did as Liberals was to protest in peace with marches. No one stormed into a church and mowed down all the Bush disciples, no one flew a plan into a tax building, no one gunned down a guard at a holocaust museum after reading books by Al Franken and we did not march on Washington with weapons. Liberals are smarter and have the superior position in any true debate. When the facts are on your side, you do not have to lie, cheat and steal to win. Now we find ourselves once again in the middle of an all out assault on Obama. He was elected by an overwhelming majority and has been nothing but Honest and open and yet once again, the conservatives can not accept him as legitimate and they interfere with every effort that he makes. Again, we see violence and threats of violence from the pulpit to the air waves and again, the lemmings are following. We can only hope that we can keep the attackers at bay. If you belong to a militia or if you are sympathetic towards them, you are a redneck and wrong. If you think the President is not a citizen, you are stupid and racist. If you think the government is coming for your guns, you are a lemming and if you want to loose your weapons, go ahead and act on your paranoia and you will have them removed. Tea party people are not legitimate and are simply providing cover to the republicans so that they can say any nasty, racist and false thing that they want. I recently heard a "christian" person say that we are a fatherless and illegitimate nation. I wonder if he felt the same way under Bush? One thing is for sure, I have had enough of this right wing garbage. At this point, we should treat anyone that follows through with violence against the government, abortion doctors, federal workers and other authority figures as what they really are...terrorist.

Playing on a Short Field

Picture if you will, a football field. The end zone to the left is the Democratic Base and the end zone to your right is the Republican Base. You are seated at mid field on the 50 yard line. Back in the day...I refer to pre Ronald Reagan, the field was a full one and the choices in politics were very plain and obvious. There was freedom to cheer for your team and hardly any question of your moral integrity for choosing a certain side. There was a misconception made however that the media was Liberal. This became the launching point for a consistent effort to shorten the field by the right and to even the media bias at any cost. The Left was still busy trying to enact policy and provide leadership for the people and although we could see efforts being made to change the system, we were far too busy to get involved and we also thought that the people were smart enough to not be deceived by bogus tactics. Boy were we wrong on all counts. While we played by the old rules, the Republicans hijacked religion and the media, starting with the radio market and ending up with the mother of all evils, fox news. Right under our noses, the playing field got short changed from 100 yards to 50 yards. The entire game was now being played from mid field to the right end zone. The public was deceived into thinking that mid field was Liberal and that the red zone for the right was the middle. This is evident in the make up and discussions over the supreme court. We are now living in a land where Bush can nominate 2 of the most activist, conservative and openly Republican appointees of all time in Roberts and Alito. The Democratic leaders did not even challenge these choices based on the false testimony that they would not legislate from the bench and that as a gentleman's agreement, the next Democratic President could feel free to nominate qualified Liberal or Progressive Judges without a fight to the death with these same Right Wingers. We were once again proven to be gullible and have been stabbed in the back by these lying scums. Obama nominated Sotomayer, a well qualified person for the job but the Republicans went wild and you would have thought that the nominee was Malcolm X. As you can see, we are living in a world where mid field is now considered left wing and we are constantly told that we are a center right Nation. I submit that we are not now nor have we ever been a center right Nation. I submit further that we are a center left Nation. If the public was not constantly carpet bombed with conservative radio...the talk airways are overwhelmingly dominated by the right...over 90% and with conservative and biased "news"...fox news, then we might could see the truth. We might could get back to a level and full playing field. It is tough when the modern Republicans are hanging their collective hats on racial fears, moral guilt, fear of terror and the President and discrimination against the poor, ethnic and same sex relationships. The party of no has achieved all star status in delivering talking points, most of them being lies and in running on a sound bite rather than substance and policy. When they were allowed to govern with having the Presidency and both sides of Congress, we saw their policy and affects. The policy is obvious and a failure. Tax cuts to the wealthiest 2% and convincing the others that it is a moral obligation to vote for more of the same and against their best interest. If allowed to continue, the end result would be expanding and bankrupting the Government and killing Medicare, Social Security, Welfare and any other assistance or Social efforts, with the exception of Corporate welfare. I have noticed, that none of these right wingers seem to realize that there are more white people on welfare than black and Corporate Welfare exceeds public assistant programs by an insane amount. Simply look at Exxon Mobile, which made more profit in 2009 than any company in the history of the world and paid the large sum of $0 in taxes in the United States. Can you now see the impact of the Supreme Court ruling that money is speech and that Corporations can now spend unlimited amounts in support or hit ads in political campaigns. Thank you activist right wing judges. It is time that the Democratic Party spoke the truth because we have it on our side. We should expose the greed and lies on the right and make every effort to establish a full field again. At this point, we would have to have a Presidential race between Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich in order to have a legitimate debate again. This would force the public to choose between two very clear and distinct views and make a decision based on policy rather than all the other fluff. Maybe this analogy is too simple but I am compelled to believe that simple truth may be our only hope for the future.

TSD...Bustin a Rhyme

I'm feelin like I gotta spit some rhymes

if you'll take out your wallet and give me a dime

I'm greater than you are no matter what you think

I can afford to buy the state of California a drink

Throw your hands up in the air

Put one back down to untwist your underwear

I'm whiter than snow and and blonder than honey

There's not a bank big enough to hold my money

I voted for Obama and I got his back

And if your a hater, it's cuz your white, old and fat

Tea party peeps deserve to be tea bagged

They can't be sexy when they're sportin all that sag

This rap took like all of 5 minutes

If you think you can answer...two words...bring it!

Planes and Buses

The Republicans do one thing well. They can rally the masses to support a cause even at their own peril. The best mental image is that of the Republican party sending buses to pick up the low information voters. Imagine a bus with Christian logos and signs on it pulling up at church after church to pick up the the religious right wingers, then imagine a bus with racist slogans, pictures of Palin and nra logos on it pulling up at nascar events and hunting camps to pick up good ole boys and imagine buses with all types of fear and smear on the sides about Republicans keeping us safe and how Democrats are soft on terror pulling through low income areas to pick up anybody that can be scared easily. Now imagine if you will, a convoy of these buses lined up and rolling down the freeway on the war path, every bus full of mostly white people, each having their own angry reasons for being on board. What the buses are unable or unwilling to see are the large private jets flying above the buses full of very wealthy, pasty white, power players that own the buses and control the message delivered to the less informed masses through fox news, conservative radio and even through the standard media and pulpits. The fat cats flying way above are drinking and toasting and laughing at the army of fools below them. Comments being made include..."those Christians are nuts, they think we're going to overturn roe vs. wade" and "I bet the gun nuts down there can be worked up into a frenzy and will bring guns to see Obama". Limbaugh can be heard saying "if they knew that I am an animal lover and support Peta, they would die". Hannity and Beck are also in a plane and as they choke down caviar, can be heard laughing out loud and saying, "can you believe that the bus people are that stupid? They believe everything we say and they think that we are just like them". The truth is, the Republicans have figured out that it is easier to control a heard of cows than to let everyone use their minds and exercise freewill. By rallying everyone around common enemies, they ensure compliance by their base voters. The Democratic party has decided that free will and free thinking are best and therefore you do not see blind loyalty on the progressive side and you see much more diversity in voting and debating of the issues. The Democratic voters arrive on the political highway in junker cars, bikes,limousines and all manner of transportation. All that I can hope for is that folks will eventually wake up and notice the puppet masters that are controlling them so that we may once again return to a true debate of ideas and not just defending party over the Country.

Set the Record Straight!

All the recent hate and fear being spread by the tea party / republican party / Hannity, Beck and Limbaugh is nothing new but it is cause for concern. We are witnessing a perfect example of projection. This term is basically used to explain when someone has a problem with an issue and projects it upon others in order to appease the soul or to distract from their own issues. An example would be when George Bush and Carl Rove projected that John Kerry was a coward and did not deserve a purple heart. This was of course absurd and should have never been allowed to stand. Bush was a true coward and he surrounded himself with chicken hawks that used every trick and contact to avoid actual war service. The recent cries of socialism and communism and Hitler comparisons made by the above mentioned folks against the President is another huge example of projection. I know that the right wing of this country would be much more closely aligned with Hitler and the racism and hate that he preached and enacted. I recently visited a website for a German Metal Festival and the following is a direct quote from the site...."Racism will not be tolerated! Hereby we once again would like to state we are strictly against any form of right-wing philosophy or racism. We also count on your help: if you come across anything, please inform us immediately! Either approach security or, even better, go to the ticket counter. We will take immediate action against the people involved." So, I think we can deduct further that the next time you see a tea bagger with a racist slogan on his sign, you can rest assured that he is simply pointing out to the entire country exactly what he, the conservative talkers and the republican party are.

What the Government does right!

Seems like all we hear these days are talking points from the right side of the isle. I will give them credit, they can produce a bullet point and make it catchy enough for the whole base to understand. The most common phrase that I am hearing is that "the Government can't do anything right". This is being used mostly in relation to health care reform and the hope of eventually getting to a single payer system. The pundits are also saying that the IRS will be taking over the health care system and handing out fines and that the average pay for a physician in countries with single payer is $100,000 and this is shown on some conservative websites. The truth is that the average pay in countries with single payer is in the ranges of $200,000- $350,000. I would recommend that everyone watch the Michael Moore film Sicko as a homework assignment. Back to the actual point, the following is a list of things that the Government does right. Compare this to the corporate run failures of Blackwater, Haliburton and the money grubbing health insurance companies that only make profits by denying coverage and health care to those that need it.

US Post Office- The most reliable form of affordable mail service on the planet. The post office has hard working dedicated workers and I have zero reservations or doubts about sending a payment or photo to anywhere in the country. I am blown away that I can place a 44 cent stamp on an envelope and a few days later, it appears at my friends house in San Diego...across the Country. Now that's what I call service.

The much overlooked FAA. It is rare that planes crash unless there is a rogue tea party guy trying to destroy an IRS building. There is screening and testing performed and these are mostly run in an economical and proficient manner.

Social Security- This is the safety net for America and payments always arrive on time. Haters will always say that the system will eventually run out of funds but the cures are simple...such as not limiting the cap for social security tax as incomes go up to lofty levels. Thank God that Bush and the republicans were stopped from making this program private...the wall street crash would have wiped the program out.

Medicaid- Takes the rejects from the big insurance companies and never turns someone down for age or pre existing conditions and runs much more fluid and with less over head than corporate health insurance.

Public Schools- When funded and held accountable, this is perhaps the most underrated public program. We even provide free and reduced lunches and breakfast to children that can't afford them.

Fire Dept and Police Dept- These servants are underpaid and over worked but when you need them, they never ask what political party that you are in before helping and they never ask if your property had a pre existing condition that caused the fire or crime.

a short list of others would include but not be limited to....
FDIC, Public Library, Interstate Highways, DMV, the Military, NASA and many many others.

The dirty little secret is that Republicans have always hated social programs and if they could, they would end them all and have their corporate giant buddies take them over at great profits and at horrible service standards. I'm afraid that the tea party people are just too dumb to understand that they are doing the bidding of the corporate minions and republican masters and it is against their best interest to support crashing the Government and as a result, loosing the social security and medicare that they are using.